What the Fungus!

The other day I noticed on the front cover of "advice" publication Bottom Line: Personal a small article about an airborne fungus hitting the Pacific northwest, ranging from northern California to Washington. It has been causing respiratory problems, mainly in middle-age to elderly men (according to the Bottom Line: Personal article). And a few deaths have occurred as well. I checked this out on the Internet today and came across several articles on the subject, including this from myfoxny.com. Dr. Joseph Heitman of Duke University has been publicizing this new public health hazard and is the chief researcher. According to the Fox article, symptoms include "severe cough, shortness of breath, chest pain and severe fatigue." And possibly death, I might add.

The fungus problem is not just in the northwest, though. It has been identified in New York City as well, with a 20% fatality rate at this point there (10 out of 50 reported).

I don't know if this fungus will (or already has) spread to Florida. I do know that this pops the fantasy bubble I have been living in of seeing the northwest Pacific area as a kind of paradise with its year-round temperate climate, so conducive to outdoor activity (especially long-distance running). After all, this is "Karno country" (Karno is ultramarathon runner Dean Karnazes, who lives in San Francisco). I suppose, though, that every area carries its own drawbacks. Although I don't exactly see developing pneumonia-like symptoms from breathing in fungus in the great outdoors as your typical regional "drawback".

I would hate to see this fungus spread further. Since it had only been discovered in 2005, though, little is still known about it, its growth pattern, and range. This could be an escalating national health concern. I think from time to time I may just type in "fungus heitman" on my Google to see the latest developments on this ominous ongoing news story.

Free Tanning: Oh Yeah?

On the way to work, I regularly pass a large complex of townhouse apartments geared primarily for University of Florida students. On the roadside as I pass, I see a small sign that says "$799/Month"; this obviously refers to the rental rate. A few feet past that sign is another: "Free Tanning". Hmmm...

Unless someone just decided to donate their tanning services out of the goodness of their heart, I don't think that the advertised "free tanning" is all that free. Most likely, the "services" are included in the $799/month rent that EVERYONE has to pay, whether they want the tanning or not. So instead of there being "free tanning", instead there is "not-free non-tanning" at these apartments for the majority of (level-headed) residents who choose to forgo this unnecessary and potentially dangerous abuse of their skin. To be sure, those who do use the tanning facilities there will enjoy the effect of reduced rates as the costs are spread over everyone, users and non-users alike. But that still isn't "free tanning".

Speaking of tanning, I cannot fathom why deliberately exposing oneself to harmful ultraviolet radiation is still considered to be a healthful activity in some quarters. I think people should instead enjoy being whatever shade of brown they already are (and we are all, except for albinos, various shades of brown) and get on with more substantial aspects of self-presentation (e.g. personal hygiene, smiling more, speaking positively). While preserving their skin (and life) in the process. Besides, haven't these "tanners" ever heard of cosmetics, which can change skin tone without the harmful and often permanent side effects of tanning? Oh well, to each his own, I suppose.

Jeff Galloway's Walk-Run Method

As most of you probably have surmised, temperatures in north central Florida have begun to skyrocket as the spring progresses toward summer. This is not a good thing for people like me who like to run long distances and would like to run a marathon at some time this year (the earlier the better). The prevailing pattern is for lows around 70 and highs around 90, with the temperatures destined to rise even further. Quite different from a few months ago, when I could run as long as I wanted in temperatures of 40-60 degrees. So a change in my training strategy was needed, a change that I believe I found a few weeks ago while browsing in the running section of Jacksonville's large Barnes and Nobles store in Town Center.

The book was Marathon: You Can Do It! by longtime star marathon runner and running instructor Jeff Galloway. As I thumbed through it at the bookstore, I quickly discovered the book's overriding theme: intersperse short walking breaks within your long runs and you will drastically improve your ability to cover longer distances (like marathons) and withstand adverse weather conditions (like the heat and humidity). I began trying this on May 14 and have continued to this day. And it works, enabling me to run in conditions that would have been impossible before.

For me, I run the first seven minutes and then, after that, walk a minute and run six minutes. And then repeat the walk-run cycle for as long as I run on that day. This way, I just look at my watch and slow to a one-minute walk each time it hits a multiple of seven (like 21, 28, 35 minutes, etc). Walking for brief stretches like this replenishes my energy and helps me recover from the heat (I also now carry a bottle of Powerade Zero with me on the runs for rehydration). Yesterday I ran 8.14 miles this way while temperatures climbed to 90. It works!

Now some regard accomplishing a marathon as meaning "running 26.2 miles without stopping". In fact, an acquaintance of mine, when discussing his feat of running his first half-marathon a couple of months ago, told me that his main goal was to run it "non-stop", meaning "always running". But according to Galloway, studies have shown that those who use his walk-run method, or some variation of it, tend to finish longer races (like marathons) with faster times than those who run throughout them. Frankly, the prospect of me being able to run a respectable marathon (and training for it in the summer) strongly appeals to me!

Galloway also points out that taking walking breaks within a long run relieves the stress on legs and feet that, over time, could cause injury. And it's true: since I have been following his example, I have experienced very little pain in my feet or legs. Something for all of you runners (or aspiring runners) to consider!

The Manhattan Experience: Streets vs. Buildings

There is no doubt that there is an awful lot to discover and experience on the streets of Manhattan. My three-and-a-fraction days there didn’t even begin to scratch the surface. I know that I could stay there an entire year and still never have a day go by when I ran out of new sights to see. Museums, shows, restaurants, tours of some of the most famous buildings, parks, different methods of transportation, and more…

However, even if I were to exhaust all of the possibilities at street level (and including those “open” buildings like the GE Building and the Empire State Building), I STILL would only be scratching the surface of Manhattan. To understand exactly what I’m talking about, all one has to do is just stand on a Manhattan street and look up and around. At the endless ranges of skyscrapers and tall buildings. Most of which are off-limits to ordinary run-of-the-mill tourists like me. Yet this is where the overwhelming volume of the city works and lives. A very, very, private, restricted, and vast place.

How does one pick a building out at random and then go about touring it by oneself? Or is that possible without the probable locked doors, alarms, and most likely security personnel blocking my advance? And why should I even think I have a right to go inside any of these buildings anyway?

I don’t know, except I remember one particular scene in the old (1967-68) The Prisoner series starring Patrick McGoohan. The episode is The Dance of the Dead and Number Six, the prisoner played by McGoohan, is in a building fleeing for his life from an angry mob. He stops in his tracks and tries a door. It opens and he slips into a room, encountering his nemesis, Number Two. Number Two assures him that the mob won’t follow because, she says, “They lack your initiative.” Are we all so cowed that we are afraid to step up to an unmarked door somewhere and try the knob to see what’s inside? What has happened to our sense of initiative?

Speaking of that, what would happen if I just walked down a busy Manhattan street and tried one door after another, skipping stores and restaurants? Would a tee-shirt vendor or a policeman sense something suspicious and create a general alarm about my activities? What would anyone be able to say, though? Has simple curiosity become a crime in this age of privacy? And what exactly is privacy, anyway?

I live in a subdivision, in a house that is situated on a public street. People don’t have to go through shells of security to reach my residence; I’m just there, pure and simple. And my workplace is similar: just pull into the parking lot and go inside. But Manhattan? How many hoops must one jump and barriers pass before they can visit a friend at home or work?

Finally, I know quite well how intensively patrolled the streets are by the police, not to mention the extensive camera surveillance everywhere. This was borne out by the recent near-tragedy at Times Square and that failed attack. But what about that vast area within all of the buildings? Seems like it would be a completely different type of world up there to me, with its own vision of the law and how people can treat each other. Or am I just speculating too much?

On This Memorial Day

Earlier this month, a young Gainesville man, U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Philip Paul Clark, who graduated two years ago from my daughter's high school, was killed in Afghanistan while serving our country there. It was very sad news, which hit our community hard. Last Friday, the funeral motorcade went through Gainesville, where he was finally laid to rest. I never knew this soldier, but I do appreciate his service and ultimate sacrifice on our behalf.

Memorial Day, which is today, often touches people in a personal way when one of the fallen is a loved one. But this holiday has a more collective and historical meaning as well, giving recognition and honor to all of our past slain servicemen and servicewomen during all of the armed conflicts of our nation's past. These brave people did not decide on the policies that led them to go off to war, but simply did their duty as they were trained to do.

Heroes.

The Joy of Posing With Dead Animals

I had it all written out: a stinging denunciation of hunting and hunters, complete with my usual jabs at Dick Cheney and Sarah Palin for their hunting follies. But thankfully, my blog instincts directed me to delay publishing my passionate and acerbic article and reflect on it a bit.

And I'm glad I did. Hunting is largely a cultural phenomenon, with its followers often rooted in it due to their family's participation as well as their local community's attitude toward it. So hurling insults at hunters isn't really something I want to do. Besides, I wonder which culturally rooted activities I am currently involved with will be frowned upon (or even condemned) by a future, more "enlightened" society.

Still, that being said, I always find it more than a little disconcerting whenever I run across one of those hunting magazines and find a hunter proudly posing on the cover with an animal he (or she) just killed (usually a deer). The animal is made to look alive, with its eyes open and its expression often a smile. As if to commemorate its first (and last) meeting with its biggest and bestest new buddy (who just ended its one chance at life)!

So that preceding little tidbit will have to be the only sarcasm left from the scrapped article to hurl at hunters. I just wish they would be careful out there with their weapons, especially considering that there are others who are not hunters and would like to go hiking through the wilderness without enduring the hazard of being shot by accident.

Opinions on Plugging Oil Leak

I obviously don't know what I'm talking about, so you might just consider passing this entry in my blog and wait for a more informed opinion at a future date. But with this catastrophic continuing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico going on for more than five weeks and with no end in sight, I have a suggestion to end it.

A few days ago I was chatting with a buddy at work when the topic came up and I said, "Why not just nuke it?" That would surely seal the breach and end the leak. And if the possibility of radiation from a nuclear explosion bothers some people, then why why detonate the most powerful conventional bombs (of the order of those dropped in late 2001 while fighting Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan)? I think the results would be the same.

Anyway, my pal thought I had a good idea, although I felt a little bit like Archie Bunker spouting off about something I knew little about. Then, just a couple of days later on one of my rare viewings of Fox News Channel, somebody who claimed to have credentials in the area posed the same solution, claiming that the Soviet Union had bombed their own undersea oil lines several times in the past to seal them. But this "expert" stated that he doubted BP would ever consider this a viable possibility, for doing so would destroy their investment and end their chances of making money from the drill as it is. How cynical! But maybe true...

Anyway, suppose that whatever high-tech, intricate solution that BP tries to stop the leak fails and the government has to resort to a bombing of the ocean floor. And further suppose that this is successful in stopping the spill. Can you imagine the political repercussions coming from this? After all, that would mean that this unprecedented environmental disaster could have been prevented at the start from assertive, bold government intervention and that the current leadership let us down and maybe will let us down in the future. A gnawing, unpleasant feeling I have...

VW's Vile Ad Campaign

In a VW television commercial, two adult men are sitting in a parking garage, observing and noting the cars passing through. One, a burly, stocky man, is twice the size of his companion. He mentions something about a car and then viciously slugs the smaller man very hard in his shoulder. The victim winces, then acts as if he deserved to be hit. A few seconds later, it happens again. And then again, the aggressor never being held accountable for his actions. In fact, as far as Volkswagen is concerned, he is Mr. Right, the role model whom they want the viewer to emulate (Mr. Right is hip to their great product line, you see).

This isn't the only ad they put out with this theme. With the opening music of the old Andy Griffith show in the background, various people in a town go around slugging others in the shoulder when they see VWs drive past them. It's all good, mainstream, hometown, apple pie, acceptable All-American fun. At least that's how Volkswagen wants you to see it.

No, slugging a fellow human being hard in the shoulder is NOT acceptable. In childhood, this is called "bullying" and "child abuse". In adulthood, this is called "physical assault" and is a criminal act, subject to prosecution. But let me say that if someone tried to slug me like in their vile commercials, the justice process would begin immediately, back in the face of the aggressor!

I thought those old V8 vegetable juice commercials were over the top with the way people in public were being popped in the forehead for having missed out on opportunities to consume their product. But this goes way beyond V8's misguided gimmick. This legitimatizes bullying, and at a time of bullying-related suicides and efforts on the parts of schools to highlight and fight the problem. Boycott Volkswagen for this outrageous pro-violence campaign!

The Last Wednesday in May

I don't know about you, but I am a little out of sync with holidays as they stand. I get the significance of all of them, to be sure, but they don't affect me in a very personal sense (except, of course, annual markers like my birthday, wedding anniversary, loved ones' birthdays, and so on). So the idea occurred to me of developing my own personal "holidays", days marking significant events or changes in my own life. And today, the last Wednesday in May, is one such day.

It is a little touchy to reveal much about what this day means, for it involves other people with their own rights to privacy. The first "Last Wednesday in May" happened on May 27, 1970 during my increasingly failing struggle to put a dignified ending to my eighth grade in school (How much should I say?). Let's just say that I was a very vulnerable young teenage boy who also, at the time, had the physique of a concentration camp survivor due to my "off-the-charts" high metabolism and the face of a composite of about five acne commercial "befores". Not to mention extreme shyness and trouble putting words together into coherent spoken sentences. But I was still a benign, kindly character who generally thought well of others and who wanted to develop friendships. On this day, though, I realized that I was more or less on my own and that society was set up to hinder me, not help me.

Unfortunately, this day resonates with me to this day because my changed world view from back then in May of 1970 is still largely the same. It's too bad that I couldn't go into more detail, except to say that this is the way it generally is with writing on this blog: my life is like an iceberg, with the above-ground 10% expressible and the bulk of it submerged and hidden. Maybe I'll expound on the significance on the Last Wednesday in May in future articles while being careful not to reveal the wrong kind of stuff. Now that should intrigue you enough to stay tuned!

Medved's Odd Criticism

In a recent column appearing on AOL News, movie critic and social conservative Michael Medved expressed his criticism of those in the national news networks for possibly waiting until Kentucky Senate contender Rand Paul had won his Republican primary before asking him questions that led to some offbeat, controversial, and potentially damaging statements. Statements such as his reservations with the 1964 Civil Rights Act and his strong opinion that President Obama was treating BP, the company responsible for the ongoing catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico (and soon the U.S. east coast) too harshly with his "boots" on them. That Rand, like his quirky father and perennial presidential candidate Texas Representative Ron Paul, entertained some unconventional views based on his libertarian and conspiracist background was already commonly known around the media and political scene. Medved thinks, though, that certain folks may have waited until the GOP was committed to him before "exposing" him nationally and garnering for him some understandably negative attention.

What nonsense! The Republicans in Kentucky and nationwide could easily have brought out Rand Paul's various troubling opinions had they not been sucking up to the tea party movement, taking special care not to offend any of them. They believed then that the important thing was to get voters riled up against the Democrats and they would all then dutifully line up behind them in November like ducks in a pond and vote the Grand Old Party back into power. And the teabaggers were seen as a way to whip up the anger, even though it was often a very irrational, even paranoid anger. For Michael Medved to accuse those in the media, who understandably gave Paul the timely attention and interviews immediately following his remarkable and newsworthy primary victory, of bias in this regard is just a little bit ingenuous.

Besides, Paul's comment taking the side of British Petroleum and his strong denouncing of our president for being too tough on them (which is diametrically the opposite of the prevailing national mood) was made and based on the present situation, not that of the primary period. And it is not exactly as if he is being forced into interviews, either. Paul wants to push his ideology into the mainstream and is using his Senate candidacy as a means to do that. Surely the geniuses in the Republican Party hierarchy could have seen that!

So maybe after all of Rand Paul's different viewpoints are finally out in the open for everyone to see and weigh in on, the voters of Kentucky will still vote the guy into office. However, his Democratic opponent, Jack Conway, already firmly established and known as the state's attorney general, is politically much more in line with the traditional conservatism that prevails in the Bluegrass State. Whoever wins the general election between Paul and Conway is very likely to become a big thorn in the side of his own party during his tenure in the Senate. It should be interesting to see how this campaign develops.

Going Back to Short Stories

Having just plodded through two interminably long and incredibly ponderous books (Stephen King's Under the Dome and Christopher Paolini's Brisingr), I think I'll take some time off from novels and return to my old favorite: the short story. I possess a paperback collection of two different "year's best" series of science fiction short stories that ranges from 1939 through 1989. Also, I have many other collections and anthologies to draw upon, including collected works of Robert Heinlein, Ray Bradbury, Theodore Sturgeon, Cyril Kornbluth, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Philip K. Dick, William Tenn, Harlan Ellison, and Sherry Jackson, among many others.

There is no reason for me to get stuck in a "bad" novel, but I do so anyway. I wonder whether anyone else has suffered, as I have, through the experience of subjugating themselves to a bad story with lousy characters that are almost impossible to sympathize with, accompanied by massive overanalysis of every dinky event and thought, just because they feel somehow obligated to follow through their mistake in picking out said novel, all the way to its miserable end.

I obviously like Stephen King and I feel Paolini has a lot of talent, but I wonder whether both couldn't do with a little more honest criticism of their writing from trusted sources before they are published. I especially feel this about Paolini, who evaded the usual struggle of an aspiring writer to be published through the good fortune of growing up within a publishing family. Maybe, though, his writing ultimately suffered as he tends to overdwell on everything until I, the reader, am about ready to toss the book out of the window in frustration.

Short stories are different. You can't mess around with short fiction; space is at premium in this form, which has been perfected through thousands of stories appearing over the past decades in various popular magazines and pulp publications. You have to really be sharp to be good at writing short stories, and they often stick with me for a much longer time after I have read them. I also tend to reread my favorite short stories, something I very rarely do with novels.

Where to start? I may just close my eyes and pick a book at random off the shelf: I know I can't go wrong with whatever I pick!

Scents and the City

Late at night, while I am lying at home in bed, I can often hear very distant sounds that normally would be hidden during the daytime. The reason for this is something called “background noise”. You can’t really grab hold of background noise, but it is definitely there, and in much greater volume during the day. Background noise is a composite of millions of sounds going on in the environment that have mixed together to such a degree that it is homogeneous to the human ear, with individual components indiscernible. It is most noticed by its absence (or least its diminished volume) during the wee, dark hours of late night/early morning.

I have discovered that there is another oft unnoticed assault on our senses besides background noise: background smell. For anyone who has ever paid a visit to the more rural, agricultural areas, this often translates into the perception that one has been plunged into a deep pit of manure. But looking around, there is often no indication of the sort. It permeates the olfactory nerves, although with time spent there this background smell will fade to the point of not being noticed. And now we come to my brief half-week experience in New York City, more specifically Manhattan.

I didn’t notice it the first day I was there (we only arrived in the evening anyway), but by early afternoon the next day, it was unmistakable: there was a peculiar smell to everything in Manhattan. It wasn’t as if any place or object smelled more strongly of this odor, which I haven’t smelled elsewhere; the smell was everywhere, indoors or outdoors. It had an organic quality to it, of something sweet and at the same time in decay. And as my stay lengthened to two, then three days, it was unmistakably omnipresent and unshakable. But time we got out of there and back in Newark, New Jersey, that odor dissipated and I haven’t smelled it since. What was it?

I can only report my experience, which was starkly real to me. What caused the odor in Manhattan is a matter of speculation. But I consider the nature of Manhattan, with its massively dense population, along with the general exclusion of flora, the sense of closed-in air due to the nature of high-rise buildings, and the heavy concentration of said buildings, streets, and the materials that compose them, and I conclude that, like with sound, the smell was a homogeneous combination of humanity, its wastes, and the materials composing the buildings and roads WITHOUT the cleansing presence of the plant life that is usually preponderant elsewhere (Central Park and the other parks notwithstanding). If you’ve ever been there, have you experienced this odor in NYC, and if so what do you think is responsible? I wonder whether other really big cities exhibit the same type of phenomenon. My nearby Jacksonville, which sadly thinks of itself as a big city, can make no claim to any peculiar “background smell” as far as I can detect.

I hesitated to write about this for a while because, for some reason, we humans have collectively decided that discussing odors carries with it some kind of taboo value. Stating that a whole city “smells” can easily be read as an insult to that community. However I mean nothing of the kind by this observation. On the other hand, since I already criticized NYC to some degree for its almost compulsive willingness to beseech money from me, I’ve probably already offended them once anyway, so why not again? Who knows, maybe lifelong New Yorkers who finally venture beyond their city limits think everything on the outside has a peculiar smell!

Somer's Sunshine Run in Orange Park

Today I decided to travel down the road to Orange Park (lying next to the St. John's River, just southwest of Jacksonville) and run their Somer's Sunshine Run 5K race. It was a very hot and humid Saturday morning at eight, when the race began. Most of the race was along the St. John's River, which appeared very calm. The course was pleasant and off the main road in an older, upscale neighborhood with the police keeping traffic off the roadway for the runners. On our left, as we started northward, were the houses facing the river. On the right, a series of piers jutting out into St. John's with an occasional boat tied up. At the halfway point, the runners simply turned around and went back along the same road.

The race itself was well-attended. As usual, I was bunched up with slower runners at the beginning and ran catch-up the rest of the way. My final time was about 25:00 (I'll check the website later and get the official time). It was slower than last month's Duck Run, but then again I was able to avoid the slow crowd at the beginning of that race. Also, I'm not 100% sure that the folks planning that event, although well-intentioned, accurately measured out the course.

I made a quick recovery following the race and left the place without waiting around for the tedious awards ceremony and celebration. Besides, I have to go to work early this afternoon back in Gainesville. But first, I stopped off at a Starbucks on Blanding Boulevard in Orange Park near I-295, where I am now writing this article.

Oh, by the way, this race benefits relatives of missing children as their personal lives are often in complete turmoil as they frantically devote themselves to recovering their lost ones. A good cause that I was proud to run for!

And I did manage to get in a May race, putting the pressure on me to do something in June. This was my first out-of-town run, and it went off without a hitch. More short running trips to come, I'm sure.

Fine Conservative Principles

Although this blog may seem to betray a liberal slant on my part, I actually consider it to be more or less centrist in its political perspective. Just for the record, here are some conservative principles that I subscribe to:

--Government should pay for itself. If the elected officials legislate into law a particular program, it should be financed without adding to the national debt. One of the essential ways to do this is to raise taxes to bring in the necessary revenue. Today's "conservatives", however, have completely abandoned this common-sense fiscally sound approach to governing. Instead, they propose to diminish, and in some areas, dismantle government itself (an anarchist, not conservative idea).

--It is the responsibility of the federal government to protect this country's borders and citizens from outside threats. I have no qualms with enforcing immigration laws by heavily patrolling the national borders and keeping drug traffickers and their violent society from crossing. But I don't think it is the role of the police to profile people on the streets to decide whether or not to demand proof of their legal status here.

--Also regarding national security, it is the duty of our government to root out enemy threats to us abroad and fight them if necessary. So acted President George W. Bush after 9/11 when he sent U.S. forces to Afghanistan to crush Al-Qaeda and knock their sponsor, the Taliban, out of power there. However, recognizing the value of our soldiers' lives requires being careful about recklessly entering into a prolonged conflict, especially when the country being fought is not a direct threat to America. But the same President Bush violated this wise conservative principle by unilaterally invading Iraq in 2003, and we are still there with way too much sacrificed in terms of casualties and a skyrocketing, unpaid debt of war costs (incurred by a "conservative" administration without even the hint of a tea party revolt in protest).

--Judges should interpret the law, not make it. That refrain, a pretty reasonable one to me, is still being bandied about by conservative politicians who oppose liberal judges for what they say is their judicial activism. But the current Supreme Court has four staunch judicial activists on the political right (Roberts, Scalia, Thomas, and Alito) who have already clearly demonstrated their intention of drastically revising U.S. constitutional interpretations by not only rejecting long-standing precedent in the recent corporate campaign financing case, but also deliberately expanding the scope of that case, originally limited in its application, to make a landmark ruling in collaboration with perennially teetertottering justice Anthony Kennedy. In doing so, they supplanted the legislative process (a.k.a. "legislating from the bench"). Not a very conservative philosophy, I think.

--Conservatives tend to oppose the State legislating morality over the population and instead support personal freedoms, opposing attempts to tell people what foods to eat and further opposing anything remotely resembling gun control. But this should be a general principle and not be only applicable to selected "pet" freedoms that suit the so-called conservative's particular belief system.

So there are a few items that I believe a true conservative would have a different take on than the manufactured, manipulated conservatism that media hacks like Hannity and Limbaugh have pulled over so many people's eyes.

I am trying to be more attentive to conservative viewpoints expressed in the media, although radio shows like Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, and Michael Savage tend to go way beyond the pale in their nastiness toward any dissenters. Certain shows on Fox News show some promise, although their so-called "fair and balanced" news presentation irritates me to no end. At least when Beck, O'Reilly, or Hannity are on, they are transparent about their right-wing slant. It's those little smirks and digs against anyone left of far right during the news that I could do without on Fox. However, I resent the crusading tone to Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity, which implies that the political left is the enemy and we must mobilize to fight it (or, as Beck puts it, "Get out the lifeboats"). At least O'Reilly, overbearing bully that he is, tries to inject a degree of levelheadedness and humor to his bias. Maybe I'll just focus on "Bill-O" with Fox until I can train myself to stomach some of the others.

Central Park

Although I have no qualms about doing things by myself much of the time, the idea of going someplace like Manhattan without some family or friends to share the ongoing experience with simply does not sound like a very attractive idea. No, when travelling like this, some good company is always preferable. And my wife and daughter, who accompanied me on the trip, certainly reaffirmed that notion this past April in New York City. Having said that, though, it is a simple fact of life that, when with others, even loved ones, things have to be negotiated and compromises and even sacrifices made. Especially when there is a scarcity of time and/or money to deal with.

So at the beginning of our trip, the three of us laid out our priorities for the NYC stay so that none of us would feel deprived at its end. But since Manhattan is so chock-full of interesting stuff, this naturally entailed cutting out most of the things we could do or see. And lamentably, it ended up making our experience in Central Park much too short (for my tastes).

Were I to live in Manhattan (yeah, sure, like that’s ever going to happen), I think I would be spending a great chunk of my time in Central Park. It is full of hilly pathways conducive to running, walking, and bicycling. And it’s important as well to have some actual trees, bushes, and grass around to remind me that I am still living on planet Earth and not on some artificial satellite somewhere deep in the galaxy! Our actual walk through Central Park, which occurred after our much-too-rushed tour through the Metropolitan Museum of Art on our last full day in Manhattan, was much too short.

We had left the Museum and had a few minutes to get a bite to eat at a roadside stand and walk into the park a little. So my experience in Central Park was by necessity pretty limited. But even though all we did was walk down some pathways into the park and back, this nonetheless was enough to make me appreciate it.

After we got back off the plane in Gainesville and were riding back into town, the entire surroundings seemed like Central Park in that plant life dominates my home town (especially in the Spring-Summer-Fall “mega-season”). I did like that concentration of tall buildings and the streets and all in most of Manhattan, but I could tell that with any extended stay, that type of environment would start to wear on me. So I instantly understood the significance of this important piece of real estate. Hopefully, the wiser heads running the show in New York City will continue to support their extremely important and valuable city park system in the face of the enormous premium on land values in the area and the concomitant pressures from other parties to build on park land. If anything, they need to add more parks.

Reflections on Yesterday's Election

On yesterday's election day for primaries, along with a special election to fill the late Democrat Jack Murtha's Pennsylvania House seat, all of the media buzz was about the anti-incumbency narrative that is supposedly this year's "theme". And to be sure, yesterday's results were partially indicative of that. In Pennsylvania, incumbent party-hopping senator Arlen Specter lost his bid to win his first Democratic senatorial primary to congressman Joe Sestak. In Arkansas, incumbent Democratic senator Blanche Lincoln finished closely ahead of her closest rival, setting up a runoff vote there three weeks from now. But really, where are all of the other races in which incumbents lost out?

The big spotlight seems to be on Kentucky's Republican primary, where scary-looking tea party candidate Rand Paul (supported by retiring, equally-scary-looking senator Jim Bunning) easily made short work of his establishment-supported rival. The network political analysts were all talking as if this were an "anti-incumbency" result and acting as if Paul were already a senator! Reality check: the race had no incumbent, while Paul's Democratic counterpart in the upcoming general election campaign, current Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway, won his race receiving more total votes than did Mister Teabagger (as did the Democrat who finished second behind Conway). Yet the only station that gave fair coverage to Conway was C-Span, which showed his acceptance speech. I have to say that I was very impressed with Conway's speech and think that he, not Paul, should be the favorite to win that seat in November. And since Paul has already foolishly stated that he might not support keeping fellow Kentuckian, Senator Mitch McConnell, on as party leader, I don't see Mr. McConnell doing very much to help him with his campaign (other than obligatory party functions). Would you?

Anti-incumbency has often been interpreted to mean "throw out the party in power". But this wasn't the case in that Pennsylvania congressional seat election, the only contest with national significance that pitted a Democrat against a Republican. The Democrat, Mark Critz, easily won this election which had been described as a "toss-up" in a previously Democratic-held district.

You can't tell in May what is going to happen in November, anyway. All yesterday showed was that places with strong challengers can topple or at least compete with incumbents. But since when hasn't that been true? So I'm left with nothing in particular to derive from the results, except that the one race in Pennsylvania should give the GOP stalwarts pause for reflection and temper their cocky presumptive arrogance about taking back the House and the Senate in the 2010 elections.

Playing “Opposite Day” with Opinions

I once entertained the idea of occasionally taking the opposite position on issues that I was accustomed to taking and developing an argument for my newly (and temporarily) adopted viewpoint. Were I to do this, it would entail me listening a lot to conservative talk radio and watching the Fox News Channel (which often seems to have its own entirely different vision of what constitutes “news” from that of the other channels). But that’s not all.

I would also need to explore the world of extreme left-wing politics, championed by linguist-turned-expert-on-everything Noam Chomsky. Chomsky tends to blame America for just about everything bad going on in the world and, dammit, makes a convincing, compelling presentation. But since I have an instinctive aversion to making scapegoats out of any specific party for problems that are almost always rooted in wrong-doing on the part of many different involved parties, I tend to reject his actually simplistic message out-of-hand. But why not play along for a while and see where it goes?

The same goes for all of the wacko conspiracy theories floating around today. I might as well delve into them as well, as it sadly appears that with the rise of this tea party movement that more and more of my fellow Americans are subscribing to them.

I bet it must be reassuring to think just in terms of black and white: either you agree with my worldview and are one of the good guys, or you are either bad or seriously deluded. If deluded, then there is still hope through reeducation. But wait, isn’t this the rigid, intolerant mindset that we hated about all of those totalitarian communist regimes of the last century?

On second thought, maybe I had better just stick with more mainstream opinions and philosophies that I tend to disagree with for my “opposite day” ventures. After all, there is involved here a matter of preserving my own sanity!

Running Races Scarce Around Town in May

In spite of the image that Gainesville likes to present of itself as a town friendly to running, there are surprisingly few races being held at this time of the year. In May, as far I could tell, only one race, a 5K event at UF promoting a girls’ running program, was scheduled. Having missed it, I now would have to travel out of town to run in a race somewhere this month. So maybe my race-a-month goal will experience its first discontinuity with May. But then again…

There are still a few races slated for the north/central Florida area left in May, but since I am committed to something else for the month-ending Memorial Day weekend, I am left with only the upcoming weekend, and really only Saturday (May 22) to find a reasonably close race. The possibilities (all 5K races):

Grace Race in Ocala
Somer’s Sunshine Run in Orange Park
Race for Research (cross country) in Jacksonville

So if I’m prepared to do a little driving, I may still get in one race (but not more) before May ends. And I could also check out the “social” life in Gainesville as it relates to running.

I haven’t yet joined the Florida Track Club, as I had earlier planned. They do have some Saturday morning informal runs (not races) that give opportunities for something vaguely resembling a social life in this typically solitary sport. I like the solitary aspects of running, but it would be nice to meet up with some kindred spirits from time to time. If for no other reason than to “run” into them while participating in the various local races held over the course of the year and touch base on our running, goals, and experiences.

My Gray Line Tours Experience in Manhattan

If you haven't had the opportunity to visit Manhattan but see yourself doing so sometime in the near future, I would heartily recommend that you secure for yourself a pass to ride on the Gray Line Tours bus system. They run all through Manhattan, as well as parts of Brooklyn (we skipped that part due to lack of time). You can sit on the open-air second floor and look all around at the sights as the knowledgeable, experienced, and often very funny tour guide talks about the more interesting features of the route. On my April trip to Manhattan with my family (staying near Times Square) , we got a 48-hour pass and rode Gray Line four times (with four different guides) (1) down to Chinatown (passing the remarkable Flatiron Building and Greenwich Village), (2) from Battery Park at the southern tip of Manhattan along the east side past Wall Street, Lower East Side, the Katz Deli (where Meg Ryan had her famous restaurant scene in When Harry Met Sally), the Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Williamsburg Bridges, the vast stretch of World War II-era apartment buildings lining the East River, the United Nations complex, the Trump Tower, and the Rockefeller Center, (3) up Eighth Avenue past the Worldwide Building (with its golden pyramidal top), the Dakota Hotel (where John Lennon lived with Yoko and Sean and was shot), Central Park (including the memorial site directly across from the Dakota called Strawberry Fields, and the Museum of Natural History, and (4) from the Metropolitan Museum of Art past Central Park’s east side, past the Carnegie Deli and back to Times Square area. There were other routes we missed besides the Brooklyn tour, most notably the tour through Uptown Manhattan and Harlem. But time was definitely at a premium on our stay and we were forced to make some hard choices about where we went.

I had wanted to try out the subway system, but instead, once again appreciating how limited our time was, opted instead for the overland route so that we could see the sights. But that subway still lingers in my mind; I wonder how far you can go on it and how much it costs. Maybe I’ll just find that out right here on my computer (or you can, too). On the other hand, who am I kidding? I’m not going back anytime soon (although I want to).

And here are some pix from the vantage point of the Gray Line “rooftop”:

NBA Down to the Best Four

Now that we have ended this year's edition of the Lebron James prima donna melodrama in the playoffs, can we now please go on and enjoy the actual four best TEAMS square off against each other? I am very impressed with all of them: the Boston Celtics, Orlando Magic, Phoenix Suns, and Los Angeles Lakers are the essence of team play. Well, maybe those Lakers, as was Cleveland's case, could be subject a little too much to the moodiness of its star player (Kobe Bryant). But LA, unlike the Cavaliers, possesses a very solid cast of players in Gasol, Odom, Artest, etc. Phoenix, Orlando, and Boston all have their own standouts, but they work so incredibly well and unselfishly that you are often taken away breathless, not by an outstanding individual's play, but rather by the meticulously timely and skillful interaction between the players, operating seamlessly as a team unit.

I will be rooting for Orlando and Phoenix to win their conference finals. My overall favorite has traditionally been the Phoenix Suns, but I'll take what I can get should they fall to the Lakers. Even if "my" teams fail and the NBA championship final is between Boston and Los Angeles, it promises to be a very interesting and entertaining series. I don't know who I would be rooting for should that scenario unfold, though.

NYC: the “Hands Out” City

Walking with my daughter and me along the streets of New York, my wife came across someone dressed up like Sesame Street’s Elmo character. She chased him down and called out for me to take a quick “Melissa and Elmo” photo. To which I obliged, after which Elmo chased ME down with a pouch for a “donation”. I flicked a little money in for Elmo’s grand cause (whatever the hell it was) and walked on, thinking of an upcoming blog article I would be able to write about NYC being the “hands-out” city.

The Lincoln Center performance of South Pacific we attended (at the Center's Vivian Beaumont Theater) was enchanting and dazzling. We were impressed by the receding front stage that jutted out into the audience, bringing the play intimately close to us while concealing (and occasionally revealing) the talented orchestra playing underneath. Outstanding acting, singing, choreography: everything was quite impressive. So was the ending, with the intricately produced traditional introduction of the cast with their bowing and the audience’s enthusiastic applause. Then right at the close, one of the actors grabbed the microphone and said that the cast members would be standing all throughout the lobby area with buckets to collect for some kind of homeless-AIDS-hodgepodge-etcetera charity drive, so don’t be a “stingy bastard” (a line from the play)! And sure enough, everywhere we turned upon exiting, there was a familiar actor holding a red bucket up at us.

All up and down the streets of Midtown Manhattan there were people pleading for donations to help the homeless. No problem; after a while, we had numbed ourselves to the widespread presence of people “doing good deeds” by panhandling for donations. I think I would rather have been accosted by a good old-fashioned beggar looking out for his own interests than all of these self-righteous do-gooders with smiles on their faces, nonstop self-righteous pleading, and their hands in my pocket.

Nowadays, it seems to be O.K. to pressure people out in public for money as long as you can claim to represent some kind of high-sounding cause. Never mind that people have plenty of resources through which they can budget their own charitable donations (like United Way). You’re also expected to shovel out the dough just for the privilege of walking down a street. Or having just put out a large sum on a play, that apparently means that you’re rich, have money to burn, and a few more bucks won’t hurt (unless you are one of those “stingy bastards”, of course).

I don’t resent panhandlers asking for money to help themselves out. Likewise, I was all “on board” with service providers like tour bus drivers and guides asking for reasonable tips as a legitimate part of their income. Cool. But I did resent this omnipresent guilt-mongering, wheedling of the public for their money to prop up whatever God-almighty-goody-goody cause anyone could concoct. Maybe, though, there is a system here. Could it be that, in exchange for cleaning the streets of the panhandlers, they would be substituted by a “higher order” of panhandling that would spread the proceeds down to those who had been kicked off the streets? But then maybe I’m trying to read a reasonable explanation into something that isn’t reasonable. Also, I think I understand something about why some people are homeless and destitute, completely out of sync with organized society. Those people might well not be around to collect on the “dole” handed out by these street-side donation pressure drives.

The impression I get is that, no matter what you do, it isn’t enough; you’re a selfish, “stingy bastard”. Shame on me for even complaining.

Annoying. Oops, I complained again; shame on me for being so insensitive.

Return to Possum Creek Park

At Gainesville’s Possum Creek Park, situated on the south side of 53 Avenue just east of 43 Street, a project has been underway to make improvements. This included adding a large skateboarding park, the likes of which Gainesville has never before witnessed. And it has become an instant hit, increasing park usage dramatically. I just made a return visit to size up the changes. Besides the new skateboarding center, they added a spacious, fenced-in ring for dogs to hang out in (reminding me of a similar place, albeit smaller and made of concrete, near Pier 83 in western Manhattan behind P.D. O’Hurley’s) . By the way, the trail I investigated earlier wasn’t much better than before, but there was a crude makeshift metallic slab that sufficed for a bridge across a heretofore impassable creek. The trail did go on a little bit further until it opened into a pretty little remote meadow…

Here is my link to the earlier article I wrote about Possum Creek Park. And here are some photos I took of the “changed” parts of the park, which mainly carries appeal for kids, their parents, and dog owners. But unless I decide to take up skateboarding as a hobby, I’m probably not going to return there anytime soon.

All Right, Who Turned on the Hot?

This year, I seem to be much more sensitive than before to the regular warming of temperatures that accompanies springtime. Recently we experienced near-record highs for a couple of days, suffering through 92 degrees and high humidity. And although the temperatures have moderated in recent days, that blanket-like humidity hasn't. Plus, even though it may be only 75-80 outside, it still seems oppressively hot to me. What gives?

My unusually adverse reaction to this spring's warm weather may be due in part to the fact that, for a while, I tried to keep up my long-distance runs in conditions that were 25-30 degrees hotter than I had become accustomed to. I honestly don't see how I will be able to maintain the running mileage like before, as even at night the temperatures can be pretty stifling. All I want to do is hang out in extremely-cool, air-conditioned places, preferably with a TV remote control in one hand and a cold drink in the other. Maybe this is my body's way of telling me, "Cool it dude, you're killing me!" I think I'll heed that advice for a few days, delusional or not it may be. The only other option I see is to pack up my things and move up north. Hey, I was watching the Yankees playing in Detroit the other night and the fans sitting out there were still wearing jackets. But for how long, I wonder. Hmm, maybe it's time for me to see what wonders Baffin Island holds! Or better yet, just turn the air-conditioning up a notch, get another drink, and see what garbage is on the other channels! You know television has deteriorated when one of the channels touts its movie lineup with the slogan "Movies that don't suck"! Well, I'll take a "sucking" movie any day over this "sucking" hot weather!

Internet Fossils

In this day of instant Internet gratification with its assorted websites, blogs, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter, there is a phenomenon that greatly intrigues me: Internet fossils.

An Internet fossil is a website that has been abandoned or neglected by its owner/user but is still accessible through its URL. As the Internet gets older, there are more and more of these sites, usually people's blog projects, simply left twisting in the cyberwind. And it has been an ongoing source of frustration for me as well.

In an effort to increase my own blog's readership among readers with similar interests, I explored different blog directories for like-minded blogs. Much too often I would come across an interesting blog, thinking to myself, Yeah, that one rocks, I think I'll leave a comment and establish a link with its writer. And then I would look at the date of the last entry and it would say something like "August 16, 2004". I don't think that dude is going to be around to respond to my comment anytime soon...how about never?!

In a related beef, I've had enough of supposedly active websites that are never updated. For example, the LifeSouth website promoting their annual Gainesville marathon/half-marathon race still states that Marty Bowers, the manager of the Starbucks on Newberry Road where the racers will be passing by, will be there on race day to cheer and encourage the participants. As well he should, because he was actually the guy who gave the idea of staging a marathon here in Gainesville to the LifeSouth folks. Uh, there's only one problem...Marty first transferred to another Starbucks store and now hasn't worked for this company in a year or more. Ooops. By the way, Marty, if you're out there, I want to let you know that I finally got up off my lazy butt and ran it this year! In the meantime, LifeSouth might want to update their website to reflect today's world, not that of three or four years ago!

But back to the fossils: If I want to promote my own blog without any expense, why not find every blog that hasn't been updated for a while and doesn't have comment moderation... and then leave an advertising comment leading back to my own blog? Especially when such a "deceased" blog is prominently listed in blog directories. H-m-m..., that might be as good of an idea as me opening up my blog on demo computers in computer shops (like the iPads in that NYC Apple store) and then just walking away with "WMI Blog" on the screen for the next shopper to discover.

What will ultimately come of abandoned websites? Will there be a push on at some time to "cleanse" the system of unused sites (is that even possible), or will these relics serve a higher historical purpose that is appreciated and studied at some future, more enlightened time? Only time will tell. I just wish that those currently responsible for maintaining ongoing websites would at least occasionally make a little effort to keep them updated. After all, I was counting on good old Marty to make an appearance at that February half-marathon!

Obama Picks Kagan for Supreme Court

President Obama has selected his Solicitor General, former dean of the Harvard Law School Elena Kagan, to succeed retiring Associate Justice John Paul Stevens on the U.S. Supreme Court. She is knowledgeable, witty, charming, and showed a strong willingness to accommodate ideological purity during her tenure at Harvard, hiring several conservative law professors. None of which will win her any confirmation votes from Republicans in the Senate. Those senators will vote against ANY Obama nomination for one reason and one reason alone: it is OBAMA'S nomination. Still, now that very conservative Utah Senator Robert Bennett has been thwarted in his attempt to run for a fourth term this year by extreme elements of his own party, he, like retiring Ohio Senator George Voinovich (who supported Sotomayor for the Court), may be liberated from the pressure exerted by stonewalling Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to join in an almost certain filibuster attempt to prevent Kagan's nomination from even reaching the Senate floor for an up-down vote. But should a GOP filibuster appear to be succeeding, I would recommend that the Democrats put into effect what then-Majority Leader, Republican Bill Frist had threatened to do a few years ago: Change the Senate rules on nominations to bypass the 60 vote threshold to defeat filibusters (the so-called "Nuclear Option"). Before the Democrats showed the will to pass health care reform through the reconciliation process a few weeks ago, I would have discounted this option. But now that they have finally shown a willingness to have a backbone and stand up to the minority party, I expect them to at least make a gesture in this direction should they lack those 60 votes.

Kagan seems like a great choice to me, although I would have preferred Diane Wood. Well, maybe seeing two female colleagues on the bench will make ailing Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to feel more comfortable in retiring, secure that her replacement would be filled by someone more in line with her own judicial philosophy and temperament.

Night Running a Success

Last Sunday night I finally got around to trying a substantial night run. I had purchased an inexpensive headband flashlight, which I put on my head over my cap (to keep it slipping due to jarring caused by running). Then I boldly set out into the darkness.

There is a long stretch of asphalt sidewalk near my home, running along NW 53rd Avenue from 34th Street to 43rd Street. And it's nice and hilly. In the day, there's no problem; at night, though, much of it is hidden in complete darkness. I wanted to be able use this path for my night running since I wouldn't then be setting off the loud dog barking in the dead of night, which would happen on my traditional residential neighborhood course.

The experience running down 53rd Avenue was all positive, with my light illuminating any dark patches of pathway ahead of me. That's good, because there were plenty of dark patches. I covered a total of 4.41 miles during the night run.

This course, run at night, will be very helpful for me during the summertime when daytime temperatures peak in the mid to upper nineties. But it already gives me much more flexibility as to what time of the day I can run. Now it's a 24 hour range of possibilities!

I do need to pick up one of those reflective shirts I see sold at running/sports shops. Once I accomplish that, look out world! Marathon training will resume in full force.

Were it not for the fact that concrete sidewalks present a much harsher, harder surface for running, I wouldn't be needing a headlight for my night running. There are many stretches of road in town where sidewalks are under streetlights, adequately lit so that runners could see where they are going. The only problem is that almost all of the sidewalks are made of concrete, not asphalt. And it has been my personal experience that I experience more soreness after running on concrete. If I am planning to cover a lot of miles, concrete simply isn't the way to go.

Visit to World Trade Center Site

For me, Manhattan has historically been the southern tip of the island, where Wall Street and the World Trade Center are/was located. It is the traditional skyline presented in the media when referring to New York City, whether pre or post 9/11. When my son went to visit Manhattan with his middle school class a few years ago, the main thing I was interested in was his experience visiting Ground Zero, the site of the fallen WTC towers. So on our recent first-time visit here, I was keen on getting into Lower Manhattan and seeing the area firsthand. What I encountered was unexpected.

After roaming around through Chinatown and Little Italy on April 8 (Thursday), we walked the few blocks over to where the WTC site was. I expected some kind of visual presentation, but instead encountered high, covered fences shielding loud, heavy construction work. There were some signs pointing to a type of 9/11 memorial located away from the site. Which was all well and good, but I wanted to see Ground Zero. Well, the Ground Zero today is vastly different from the Ground Zero my son encountered in 2002. First, one of the new buildings has already been finished. Then, on the site where the North Tower once stood, a new, much taller single tower is now being built, ultimately to rise some five hundred feet higher than the original tower. All we could observe was through furtive peeks through the fence of the ongoing construction work and very, very loud noise. So I came away from our visit with some conflicting feelings. First I had a swelling up of anger as I took in firsthand the enormity and outrage of the horrible acts of terrorism that brought down the WTC and murdered so many people. And I was frustrated by not having a concrete visual point of reference, with the construction work taking the place of the essentially empty area. But then I felt hope that now we are beginning to put this behind us and are moving ahead with this new building. So ultimately, my visit was a positive one, although the good feelings took a little while in coming.

I noticed something else while walking around in Lower Manhattan: the pedestrian crowds had a much more tense and driven character to them than what I had become accustomed to Midtown (where people walked around fast enough anyway). It may have been my imagination, but it seemed to me that around the WTC site the mood of the people around me could be summed up by the words "extremely pissed off".

Speaking of "extremely pissed off", I wonder whether those running the Taliban overseas are stupid or just have a strong death wish. For with this recent Times Square attempt and their initial claims of credit for it, the Taliban has reduced itself in stature to simple terrorist thugs on the same order as Al-Qaeda. Before, there was a difference. Now, for all practical purposes as far as the USA is concerned, Taliban = Al Qaeda. Not a very wise move on their part, I think. It could be, though, that they see what's going down, since they have most recently backed off a bit from their earlier claims for this misdeed.

Bigapplophobia Revisited

Way back three years ago in the early days of this blog, I was looking for a topic to write about and whipped up an article speculating about what it would be like to visit the streets of New York. I had seen Earthcam's continuous live depiction of street pedestrian traffic there and wondered in the article how long I would be able to stand it before I had to leave. You see, I have always had a bit of a problem being in the midst of large, noisy crowds. And New York City, especially Midtown Manhattan, is the very essence of crowded life. So I felt at first little bit uneasy about the upcoming trip to NYC last month.

But as it turned out, I had almost no adverse reaction to the enormous crowds in New York throughout my stay. The only time it bothered me was during my tedious ordeal standing in a seemingly interminable line in the Empire State Building waiting for the "express" elevator to take us to the observation floor. But I had been spoiled earlier at the Rockefeller Center's GE Building and how quickly, efficiently and politely they whisked us up to the "Top of the Rock". The Empire State Building experience was the opposite, with employees there snapping orders at the visitors, all of whom I'm sure were tired at waiting so long in line. When it was time for our pictures to be taken, they rushed us along so rudely that it reminded me of little Ralph's "Santa Claus at the department store" experience in the holiday movie staple A Christmas Story. So there were aggravating factors at the ESB adding to my anxiety.

Elsewhere in Manhattan, I almost magically thrived among the rich assortment of noises, sights, and smells. I loved walking down crowded streets, eating in crowded restaurants, browsing in crowded shops, riding crowded buses, you name it...the crowds were O.K.; even the crowded plane rides and airplane terminals didn't phase me. So what does this mean?

Maybe I've reached a point somehow where I have overcome this type of phobia about crowds. It certainly does seem that way to me. After all, my recent visit to Manhattan made "bigapplophobia" a truly meaningless nonsense word!

Chinatown and Little Italy

Part of our plan in touring Manhattan was to visit Chinatown and the neighboring Little Italy neighborhoods. So on Thursday (4/8) we climbed up on top of our Grayline bus and headed on to Lower Manhattan.

On the way, we passed the Flatiron Building, to me the most outstanding building in all of New York. Apparently destined to become condominiums, this structure currently houses offices. Its strange, triangular shape is due to the narrow wedge of block space created by a diagonally running Broadway intersecting the Manhattan street grid.

As we went further south, we encountered buildings and neighborhoods that seemed more comfortable and less contrived than the Theatre District/Times Square. Around Greenwich Village, I felt that there was more to Manhattan than just attracting tourists: people lived and thrived here.

We got off in Chinatown, which is a little embedded city with its own distinct identity. And dominated by small shops and restaurants. My wife and daughter loved to browse around the shops, buying several items. Finally, we decided to go to one of the many restaurants for lunch. We decided on a place called the Sun Sai Gai Restaurant on 220 Canal Street (they call themselves Xin Shijie Cha Canting or "New World Tea House" in Chinese). Melissa had a salad while Rebecca had a soup with wontons and duck. Duck, by the way, is very available and relatively cheap in Chinatown (as opposed to Gainesville, where it is always pretty pricey and often hard to find on menus). I continued on my quest to find the best hot and sour soup ever made, ordering a bowl from their menu. Their hot and sour soup was O.K., but I've tasted better in Gainesville. As a matter of fact, the two best makers of hot and sour soup I know are First Wok, located a couple of hundred yards from my workplace, and the Hot Wok restaurant, located on North US 441 in Gainesville (I had the most scrumptious hot and sour soup there this past Friday night).

But my New York soup was pretty good, too. I will say one thing: there is a great amount of variety to hot and sour soups. Perhaps, as with the case with cheesecake, there are certain New York Chinese restaurants renown for their hot and sour soup. I'll have to check that out before I return.

The restaurant was small but crowded. The waiter later sat another couple at our table, something we hadn't expected but is probably relatively commonplace in parts of New York, where space is often very scarce.

After lunch, we strolled more around Chinatown (I loved their newsstands with Chinese newspapers and magazines) northward to Mulberry Street, which is for all practical purposes is all that is left of Little Italy. Both sides of the street are lined with Italian restaurants, providing both indoor and outdoor seating. The outdoor tables jut out to the sidewalk, and as we passed by each restaurant, elegantly-attired employees would beseech us to sit at a table and order their food. That was something that I liked a lot about New York: businesses really competed for your patronage by reaching out and engaging with potential customers.

I liked both Chinatown and Little Italy, although the latter seems to be dwindling away into history. I wish I had kept up with my Chinese, although it seemed that most of those residing and working there spoke a different "dialect" (actually a different language, for all practical purposes), most likely Cantonese (which generally seems to be the case with the Chinese running the Gainesville restaurants). Chinatown is definitely a return-visit "thumbs-up", and I do want to take a stroll around Greenwich Village and explore ol' Flatiron (reputed to be the haunt of vampires) as well.

Happy With NBA West Semifinals

The National Basketball Association playoffs have unfolded in a very favorable way me this year. For my three favorite players are still in the playoffs, two of them currently squaring off against each other.

For quite a while my three favorite NBA players, all point guards playing for Western Conference teams, have been Steve Nash (Phoenix Suns), Deron Williams (Utah Jazz), and Tony Parker (San Antonio Spurs). Nash and Parker showcased their incredible talent last night in the opening game of the conference semifinal series between Phoenix and San Antonio (won by the Suns 111-102). Williams and his Utah team began their series against defending NBA champion Los Angeles Sunday, losing the close, hard-fought game 104-99.

One reason, I suppose, that I like to watch point guards is that they tend to have the ball more, so following the game means following them. They are usually the ones who set up offensive plays, are the best ball-handlers, make the best passes, and shoot the ball the most accurately. All qualities are very much in evidence with the aforementioned athletes. Plus, I tend to feel, correctly or not, that guards, being generally shorter than forwards or centers, rose in their profession more through hard work and skill than by mere physical stature.

So this will be a lot of fun during the next few days. Usually, there is a game still going on by the time I get home from work around 11:30. Tonight the Jazz and the Lakers will be on TV with their game #2. Hooray!

Gulf Oil Spill Disaster: My Take

As anyone who has been paying any attention to the news for the past several days already knows, the Gulf of Mexico and the surrounding states are in the midst of an severe environmental crisis due to uncapped oil spurting through an ocean-bottom opening caused by an oil rig explosion off the Louisiana coast. The accident and all of its ramifications should put to death the lie being spread for the past few years that Florida was somehow being "selfish" by not allowing off-shore drilling near its own coastline. The irony is that Florida beaches, heavily dependent on tourism, along with its seafood industry, will still drastically suffer economically from another state's decision in this regard.

I understand, I think, the apparent paradox that high energy demand presents for the public. On one hand, we want energy for transportation, heating, electricity, and a variety of other reasons. And that requires an enormous amount of energy that has to come from somewhere. On the other hand, the very nature of high energy production is dangerous and messy. It matters not where it comes from or how it is converted into a usable form: there are hazards with all kinds of mass-produced energy. Some may argue that this is not the case with wind or solar energy, but I would counter-argue that this is because those forms are not yet being used on a large enough scale to make but a tiny dent in satisfying energy demands. I predict that, once means to greatly enhance energy production from those "clean" sources are developed and implemented, we will discover some nasty side effects from them as well.

Barack Obama, sensing the high demand for energy in America, launched on a policy of encouraging energy from a variety of sources, including nuclear, "clean" coal, and yes, more offshore drilling. It is inevitable that, from time to time, accidents will happen, some of them being disastrous. This Louisiana spill looks to be the worst oil disaster in this country's history. And who will ever forget the consequences of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor meltdown in USSR in 1986? Energy is volatile, pure and simple. If you want to use it, sometimes it will bite back. Sometimes very, very hard.

Since I don't see energy demand dwindling at any point in the foreseeable future, I can only see us continuing along our president's vision about exploring and developing all feasible possibilities for producing and supplying energy for America's needs, while learning from accidents and instituting safeguards to help prevent others in the future. Only now I wonder whether that same president has the political will left to continue on this ambitious quest. Only time will tell, I suppose. In any event, maybe the rest of the country will finally get off Florida's back (although by now this may be a moot point anyway).

Attempted Bomb Attack Near Times Square

The news is a little unclear at this point, but apparently late Saturday night someone tried to set off a bomb in a parked van full of inflammable material in Manhattan near Times Square, on 45th Street between 7th and 8th Avenue. In other words, right next to the Marriott Marquis hotel we stayed at last month and very close to Junior's Restaurant and two Broadway theatres (currently running The Lion King and Billy Elliot). This hits way too close to home for me.

According to NY Senator Chuck Schumer in a CNN interview speaking from Times Square, two pedestrians happened to notice some smoke emanating from the van and the police and bomb squads were quickly summoned and arrived, completely evacuating the area for several hours. Thankfully, no explosion occurred. Of course the feds were brought in and a full-scale investigation is under way. I am earnestly looking forward to seeing the culprit(s) caught and brought to full justice under the law.

Two observations: One, this is a sign of our current times that public opinion is divided on whether the botched attack was by Al-Qaeda and/or its sympathizers, or by a domestic party more in line with militias and hate groups here in the good old USA. Schumer thinks the perpetrator was a "lone wolf", although he has no way of knowing that for sure. But in pre-Obama days, before paranoid anti-government sentiments were whipped up by demagogic Republican politicians and irresponsible media talking heads, almost everyone would have immediately pointed their accusing fingers at Al-Qaeda. Unfortunately, almost no one thinks this will be the last of this kind of incident. And sooner or later, we'll see a truly tragic outcome.

Observation number two: I was looking forward, following my stay in Manhattan, to seeing many visual references to its many different and interesting locales on TV and in movies (and saying to myself, "Yes, I was there"). But I could very easily have done without this brand of reference, thank you.

Lest those responsible for this act think they have intimidated anyone, I say in response, "Screw the bastards!"; I'm not going to change any of MY plans one iota because of this: I plan to return and have plenty more good times in NYC!

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(later revision)
Well, now that I've heard more about this incident, I should correct myself on a couple of items. It was a tee shirt vendor, not a pedestrian, who discovered the SUV (not a van) and notified a policeman. It also occurred early in the evening, not late at night as I first reported. As for who is responsible for the attempted bombing, although the Taliban has claimed responsibility, nothing of substance has yet been released to the press by the authorities to confirm this or establish a different agency. So right now, there is just a lot of speculation going on. ---WM Irwin, May 3

Immigration Reform and Arizona's Law

President Obama has decided to avoid tackling the sticky immigration reform issue this year before the 2010 midterm elections. While this may not sit very well with many within the Latino community, it is nevertheless probably a savvy political move. As I have stated before, it will be the issues being debated just before the election that will most intensely galvanize various interests into disproportionately going to vote on Election Day. The calculation is that the Democrats would lose more by appearing to be opening up the borders for a mass influx of Mexicans, even though the proposals circulating around so far seem more in line with the previous Republican Bush administration, supported then by (never really was a maverick) senator John McCain. Having already seen how the GOP is so willing to blame the Democrats for their own proposals (in health care reform, Republican Senator Johnny Isaakson's living will amendment was the source of the "death panels" and "killing grandma" hysteria last summer), it is no surprise that the elected majority party may not want to confront another legislative behemoth reminiscent of the recent struggle to get health care reform passed through Congress.

Regarding the newly passed law in Arizona giving that state's police officers much greater personal latitude in selecting individuals out of the general population to demand "papers" documenting their legal status in the U.S., it should be noted that Rachel Maddow showed the connection with racist white supremacist groups and this new law. And why not? If I'm walking the streets of Mesa or Flagstaff, the cops aren't going to bother me because, to them, it's clear that I obviously look like an "American" (i.e. I'm white). It doesn't matter that those who support the new law say the police won't be profiling people "waiting outside for the bus". If they are ignoring people who don't "look" like they might be illegal immigrants, than that constitutes an unacceptable racial profiling in itself. So that's why I oppose this law, although I do understand the concerns of legal residents in the region about the recent rise in violent crimes. There has to be another way.

I have a suggestion: you don't need another bill to more aggressively enforce the immigration laws we already have on the books. Our president should quickly act to assert as much federal authority into this matter as legally possible, both to protect legal residents from crime and to ensure that people won't be persecuted by the state and its police force because of their appearance. Arizona, as far as I know, is not an independent country. Its border with Mexico is not only its state border: it's our NATIONAL border. And thus this a national issue on which our federal government, under our president's executive power, has the legal right and responsibility to assert itself for the NATIONAL interest. So Arizona can take its precious new state law and stuff it, as far as I'm concerned.

My Circle Lines Harbor Lights Experience

At the end of our rushed day in NYC on April 9, we finally had an opportunity to relax. After walking the short distance down 42nd Street to Pier 83 on the Hudson River, we exchanged our vouchers for tickets and then stopped off at the adjacent P.D. O'Hurley's restaurant to enjoy a light supper. Then we got in line at Circle Lines, boarded the boat, and waited for our Harbor Lights cruise around Manhattan.

Our tour guide told us that the January '09 incredibly soft crash landing on the Hudson River of US Airways Flight 1549, with Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger at the controls, occurred very close to our starting point. As a matter of fact, no one there, including the guide, had heard any sound indicating the landing (which was out of sight around the corner) until they heard approaching sirens. The firefighters and related disaster teams boarded the Circle Lines boats (including the one we were riding), went to the plane and rescued its passengers. So that injected an interesting bit of recent history into our tour.

We first went south on the Hudson River, with New Jersey to our right and the Manhattan skyline to our left. The guide pointed to the World Trade Center construction site, where a new, much taller building than the original WTCs is currently being erected where the North Tower stood. On the original South Tower site, a memorial will be built to all of those who perished in the abominable terrorist attack on September 11, 2001.

The Statue of Liberty came up on our right, and naturally many of the passengers got up to take pictures. We took a few, but the boat didn't really get close enough to do the Statue justice. Circle Lines does provide a separate tour specifically designed for those who want to visit the Statue of Liberty, but we opted instead for the Harbor Lights tour with our City Pass.

Going around the southern tip of Manhattan, we saw Battery Park again on the left (we rode by it the previous afternoon on top of a Grayline bus) and Governor's Island on the right. The guide pointed to a ferry boat, informing us that it was the Staten Island Ferry and, believe it or not, it was still FREE to ride it!

Around the east side of Manhattan up the East River, our guide pointed out that no one is known to have ever successfully swum across the swift, strong currents of the East River all the way between Manhattan and Brooklyn. He identified the Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Williamsburg bridges connecting the two boroughs. We passed an extremely long section of large apartment dwellings, built around 70 years ago on a tract that Peter Stuyvesant once had his farm on. And as the boat turned around to make its return in the opposite direction, we noted the United Nations buildings.

For most of the tour, I stayed seated indoors, where it was warm and there were big windows everywhere to look out at the sights. But going back, I decided to step outside onto the deck, where it was pretty chilly and windy. Whoa! What a different experience! I thoroughly enjoyed standing there as the lit up Manhattan skyline (or Brooklyn's, depending on where I was facing) dazzled me. Quite an unforgettable experience, something I would recommend to anyone interested in visiting this area.

Crist to Run as Independent for Senate

Today Florida's Governor Charlie Crist announced that he would leave the Republican Party to run for the U.S. Senate as an Independent. Crist, trailing badly in polls of statewide Republicans to right wing tea party darling Marco Rubio, realized that his own political appeal was to the political center, not among the ideologues. By running nonaligned with either party, he has put himself in the only position he could to win the Senate race. Recent polls put him essentially even in a three candidate race against Rubio and Democratic candidate Kendrick Meek.

A few days ago, I had expressed my intention to switch my party affiliation to Republican in order to vote for Crist (and against Rubio), but now this won't be necessary. Who will finally receive my vote in November? It depends on the public opinion polls. If, in late October, they show Meek ahead or in a close race with a chance to win, I'll support him. But if those polls show Meek hopelessly behind but have Crist with a reasonable chance of victory, I'm pulling for our governor instead.

Hopefully, should Charlie Crist manage to win that Senate seat, he would be a truly independent voice representing his state's best interests, as well as those of the country as a whole. The last thing we need is another stonewalling, just-say-no party hack. Which Rubio would be.

Gainesville's Public Radio: Talk or Classical Music?

A year after the Gainesville Sun newspaper featured a letters-to-the-editor drive to change local Public Radio station (and University of Florida-owned) WUFT-FM from classical music programming to all-talk, which succeeded when the UF College of Journalism dean made the switch, the push is now on to reverse that decision and bring back classical music. And the vehicle for that drive is none other than the Gainesville Sun, again demonstrating its capacity and willingness to manipulate public opinion and events through its selection and publishing of editorial letters to fit its agenda.

I was initially opposed to the switch from classical music to talk, but realized that some of the programs (especially the morning Diane Rehm Show and Fresh Air) were quite informative and interesting. So l have now come around to the "talk" faction. Besides, as I have said before, classical music is readily available through my fine public library, the Internet, and even my cable TV. And, hey, I can still go to concerts and buy CDs.

I used to enjoy the music on WUFT, but I think that broadcast radio needs to have some kind of talk radio programming illustrative of a truly balanced discussion of issues, something woefully lacking in our age of right wing extremist commercial talk radio. I still would like for something like Air America to get on the air to provide at least one venue for partisan liberal talk. Of course, the right wing talk wackos claim that Public Radio is slanted to the left. Which shows how skewed their viewpoint really is.

In a manner of speaking, though, WUFT technically didn't drop classical music from their programming: they just switched it over to an HD channel that requires the purchase of a special (and relatively expensive) radio. And these radios are not portable. And certainly not available in headsets or MP3 players. So I foresee HD only declining, eventually joining quadraphonic sound as an extinct technological dinosaur.

One writer in the Gainesville Sun mentioned that UF already owns another station: the commercial giant WRUF-FM, which plays generally lousy rock selections as well as the grossly offensive Lex and Terry talk show. I agreed with this writer as he suggested that UF should replace that garbage (my depiction) with classical music. But it'll never fly, and everyone knows it. Besides, haven't listeners been conditioned over the years to expect commercial radio to be full of unpalatable trash? But Public Radio is a different matter, still subject to high scrutiny. Well, I guess I should be glad that at least something is.